


Walk All Roads

by Kemmasandi



Series: Flags [7]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Kidfic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemmasandi/pseuds/Kemmasandi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Persephone’s first steps are in the wrong direction. Ratchet thinks that’s probably his influence showing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Walk All Roads

Ratchet lowered himself to the floor with an exhausted slump, leaning back against the wall and bracing his hands against the concrete to stop himself from sliding any further down. His frame type had been built for heavy labour, but this sort of thing wasn’t exactly what his long-ago designers had had in mind.

From the other side of the kitchen bench came the sound of little running feet. Persephone was out of sight, not yet tall enough to be seen above the chairs let alone the rest of the dexter-sized furniture in their little apartment, but Ratchet could track her progress by the occasional glimpse of big red shoulders above the benchtop. Optimus’ arms were about so long, which meant that in order to keep out of his grasp their daughter had to be _that_ much farther in front of him- 

He built a mental model to track her path through the kitchen, and on cue she popped out into view around the end of the bench, a sparkling’s step ahead of Optimus’ questing servo.

And they’d thought she’d been hard to keep track up with when she’d only been crawling. Ratchet made eye contact with Optimus and gave his field a wry twist— // _just give up, let her tire herself out. She’ll be easier to catch then._ //

Optimus sighed and sat back on his haunches, resting his servos against his thighs. His side of the bond echoed with dull resignation. // _I see your point, old friend._ // 

Bereft of a pursuer to run away from, Persephone stumbled to a halt, her delighted screebling dying away. She gave Optimus a confounded look - _why aren’t you chasing me anymore?_ \- swayed on unpracticed pedes, and Ratchet took advantage of her momentary distraction to lunge forward and snatch her into his arms.

"I will have to remember that trick," Optimus said aloud, a dry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Ratchet hefted their squalling bitlet a little higher and returned the expression over the top of her head. “You do make an excellent distraction, yes.”

"I was rather hoping you might volunteer to be the distraction next time," Optimus replied, and the tone in which he said it might have been called plaintive were he a few tons lighter.

Displeased by this turn of events, Persephone squirmed in Ratchet’s hands, working a tiny arm free and batting at his chin. He rocked backwards on instinct, and she squealed at the sudden movement.

Optimus’ smile twitched wider. He rose to his pedes with grace totally unfair in a mech who’d just been crawling around the kitchen floor after his baby daughter, offering Ratchet a hand. Ratchet took the offered servo, letting Optimus’ preternatural strength haul him to his feet. Persephone stopped wriggling so hard. Immediately her energy went instead towards surveying the room, her optics wide in babyish fascination.

Up close, Optimus’ field gave away the weariness his frame did not. “Couch or berth?” Ratchet offered, looping his free arm around his bondmate’s waist.

The answer was not unexpected - the couch was far closer. And as they settled themselves down on its plush metalmesh surface, Persephone curled obediently between them, Ratchet took a moment to savour the moment of calmness before the business of life took over again.

**Author's Note:**

> In my headcanon, sparklings are comparatively a lot smaller than human babies. Persephone, for example, is just under 5’ tall here - but Optimus is 32’, which makes her, if they were scaled down to human dimensions, about cat-sized.
> 
> Given the developmental speed of a sparkling’s system capabilities versus actual physical size, this gives me some incredibly cute mental images. <33333


End file.
